Might Never Fly Again, after Clare Mackintosh's Thriller HOSTAGE

Mystery fans who read the classics (or view them in film form) have long treasured Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, where Hercule Poirot peels back the lives and motives of those riding the train with him after a passenger is killed.

Now British author Clare Mackintosh re-fits the suspense of this "closed room" situation by framing a deadly hijacking of a high-profile commercial flight. Using alternating passages that reveal the motives and means of multiple passengers, including criminals, on the flight, HOSTAGE circles around the terror felt by Mina Holbrook, adoptive mom of a preschooler named Sophia. A highly believable threat to Sophia's life forces Mina toward the kind of unforgivable action that no airline service provider should ever have to consider.

Meanwhile, Mina's husband Adam faces a very different threat: one seated in a terrible error he's made as a police detective. He's sure he's about to lose his job, and then ... "What will I do? Being a copper isn't like most other jobs—you don't do it then move on, as if you worked in a bar or tried your hand at retail. It's like teaching or being a doctor. It's part of you. And I'm going to lose it all." With that, Adam figures he'll also lose his marriage, as well as the fathering he's struggled to provide.

Short chapters and an unremitting ramping up of tension and danger make HOSTAGE a thriller that can't be put down. (What could happen to all of them—especially Sophia—if you turned away for even a moment?) The details of a bent investigator are so familiar from similar situations that the levels of threat against Adam don't seem pressing at first, but when they engage the emotionally fragile preschooler as well, every shadow seems twice as terrible. And Mina's agonized decision making, trapped among what she gradually realizes are multiple terrorists in the airline's nonstop 20-hour flight, ring an insistent alarm bell of shock, coupled with being trapped, and an inability to fight back effectively. 

Mackintosh, whose three previous thrillers have been award winners, writes fluidly with abundant drama, positioning her characters such that there's no such thing as a little courage—they've either got to give everything, or fail. HOSTAGE is a hot compelling read, earning its way into any suspense-laden summer reading stack. (Release date is JUNE 22 from Sourcebooks.) Only the final chapter pulls the book a bit beyond the believable—all the rest of it rings so true, and so frightening, that the book may well persuade some readers that it's not worth the risk to take an international flight ever again!

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Suspicious Airplane Crash, Feisty Investigative Reporter: FREE FALL from Rick Mofina Hits the Thriller Buttons

Rick Mofina's FREE FALL is the fourth in his Kate Page series (1, Whirlwind; 2, Full Tilt; 3, Every Second; 4. Free Fall), and should absolutely not be read during high-speed travel!

With 18 books under his belt, Mofina's a pro at pacing his thrillers and picking out the areas where readers will echo the disturbance and mounting fear in the story, thanks to ordinary experiences we've all had: hearing the airplane captain talk about oncoming turbulence, reading a report of a bus with mechanical malfunctions, realizing how rapidly today's trains take the curves of the tracks.

This time, Mofina places journalist Kate Page in a frightening position personally as well: A hostile internal takeover of the newsroom at the paper where she works is threatening her reputation and her job. When Kate hears the police scanner report a jet landing with a mysterious malfunction, she almost gets the entire story stolen from her. Malicious colleagues want her slot. She knows darn well she's good -- and that she's given a piece of her soul to each major story and the victims she's interviewed. Can she be forced out?

Luckily, the just-in-time return to Newslead of a former boss who knows Kate's skills gives her a chance to jump back into the story. Her investigations soon have her chasing across the country to pull together tips, interviews, and enormous possibilities, in collaboration with the very worried FBI agents on the case.

Mofina's pace is rapid, and FREE FALL reads best if it's not interrupted often. His writing has earned praise from Michael Connelly and Tess Gerritsen, although it differs from both of these -- closer to an early James Patterson. No need to read the books in sequence, although, as always, it's a good way to appreciate a character's growth (and the author's). This one is from MIRA; Mofina is himself a former crime reporter, and I'm betting he has a dozen or more plots already spinning for sequels!